Installing GroupWise 5.5 on a single server, part 1

Novell's GroupWise communications package is more than an e-mail package. It enables you to send/receive faxes and to have your e-mail read to you. In part 1 of this series, Ron Nutter gives detailed instructions for installing and setting up GroupWise on a single server.

For those of you who haven’t heard about or used Novell’s GroupWise communications package, an introduction is in order. Notice that I said communications package and not e-mail package. GroupWise involves more than just sending e-mail—you can send pages to a pager, send and receive faxes, or have your e-mail read to you without purchasing third-party packages.

As you will see when you install the software and read the accompanying documentation, GroupWise is a very sophisticated and versatile system. I strongly recommend that you try not to do too much at once, especially if this is your first time working with a system that handles more than just e-mail. In other words, if you plan to have Internet mail and/or faxing available with GroupWise, don’t try to install everything at once. Instead, start by installing the basic GroupWise system; once you have that working, move on to the Internet gateway. That way, if you have problems, you will have a better feel for how things work, and you won’t have to check everything on the system from top to bottom to see where the problem is.

Beginning the installation processBegin the installation process by inserting the CD into the workstation from which you will be installing GroupWise. If the installation program doesn’t start up automatically, run INSTALL.EXE from the root of the CD-ROM drive. When the Welcome To GroupWise Install window appears, click the Next button and then the Accept button to agree to the terms of the license agreement. Click Next to begin the installation process.

The installation process will query your system to see which tree(s) exist. When the Select Tree window appears, highlight the tree to which you want to install GroupWise and click Next. You will notice the option Extend Schema Only And Exit Installation. You’ll probably want to use this option only when you’re dealing with a large multiserver/multisite installation. This option starts the process of extending the NDS schema and gives it a chance to “settle” before you actually install the GroupWise messaging system.

After you click the Next button, the GroupWise installation program will check to see if the NDS schema will need to be extended to allow the GroupWise installation. If NDS needs to be extended, you will see the window NDS Will Be Extended. This window will provide the tree name that will be extended. At this point, click the Next button to begin the schema extension process. You’ll see an Extend NDS progress indicator for the schema extension process. Depending on the level of activity on your network, how busy the server is, and how fast your connection is, the extension process will take anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes to complete. When the schema has been extended, you will see the NDS Has Been Extended window. Click Next to proceed.

The next choice that you will be asked to make is the language(s) you want GroupWise to use. The version normally sold in the United States is the English-only version. Even with this version, you will have a choice of specifying English-USA, English-Australia, English-Canada, and English-UK. By default, the English-USA option will be selected when you get to this window. Click the Next button to continue.

Selecting an install methodNow, you’ll see the Install Method window. You’ll have two options for installation: Custom and Express. For single-server installations, such as the one that we’re performing, choosing the Express option will be the quickest way to get GroupWise installed. However, depending on how you’ve organized your tree and NDS objects, you may want to choose the Custom option. It gives you more control over where and how the GroupWise objects are created and placed in the tree. For the purposes of this Daily Drill Down, select Custom and click Next.

On the next window, select the path for installing NetWare Administrator and GroupWise Administrator. Highlight the desired drive letter and volume combination and click the Next button. You can distribute the GroupWise clients and agents in one of two ways: You can have the installation program create a distribution directory on the server, or you can use the GroupWise CD as a mounted volume on the server. Unless you have more than one CD-ROM drive on your server, selecting the Directory On File Server option will allow you to install the clients/agents at will. This approach minimizes the time involved in hunting down the GroupWise CD and getting it mounted as a volume on the server. After you select the Directory On File Server option, click Next.

Although you probably selected a drive letter, like F or G, to install the GroupWise Administrator, you’ll notice that the Software Distribution Directory window that appears uses drive Z. You’ll want to change it to a drive letter that’s mapped to the correct server and volume. Click the Next button to continue.

When the Select Software window appears, select the items that you want to install. For the basic installation that we’re performing, you’ll want to select GroupWise Administrator, GroupWise Monitor, NLM Agents, and Windows 95/NT Client. The NT Agents will be used only if you have a GroupWise post office on an NT Server. The GroupWise WebAccess item will allow you to have browser-based access to your e-mail without having to install the GroupWise client on the machine that you’ll use to read your e-mail. The GroupWise Internet Agent lets you send and receive e-mail over the Internet. You need to install the Windows 3.1 Client only if you have workstations that use Windows 3.1 as their desktop operating system. After selecting the desired items, click Next.

On the next window, an indicator will show you visually how the installation is proceeding. After the installed files on the target server are checked, you may see a Newer Files window. You’ll be given a choice between replacing the newer files on the server with the ones from the GroupWise CD or leaving them alone. I suggest that you choose the Do Not Replace The Newer Files option. Click Next to continue.

Now, you’ll see the Read To Install window. Click the Install button to start the GroupWise installation process. A window labeled Installing will appear, and it will indicate the progress of the file-copying portion of the install. Depending on your configuration, this part of the installation will take between 10 and 30 minutes to complete. Once the files have been copied, you’ll see a GroupWise Installation message box, which will indicate that a program icon for NWAdmin has been created. You’ll click that icon to administer your GroupWise system. Click OK to continue. When the Novell GroupWise Partner Page appears, click Next.

On the Determine Next Step window that appears, select the Creating A New GroupWise 5.5 System option and click Next. When you see the Run NetWare Administrator, you’ll have the option of starting NWAdmin with the GroupWise Setup Advisor or running NWAdmin at a later time to continue the GroupWise Setup process. Click the Run button to start the configuration process now.

Setting up GroupWiseAfter NWAdmin starts, you’ll see the Welcome To GroupWise Setup window. Verify that Create A New GroupWise 5 System is selected and click Next. The next step in the GroupWise Setup process is to collect the information that you need to set up the software. Click Next to start this process. Verify the location of the Software Distribution Directory and click Next. Verify the tree in which the GroupWise objects will be created and click Next. You’ll need to provide a name that your company will use to organize the GroupWise system(s). Think carefully about this name; once you enter it, you cannot change it without reinstalling the software. Enter the name you want to use (in our case, we’ll use GWMail) and click Next.

You also will need to provide a name for the first GroupWise domain that you set up. Again, think carefully about the name that you want to use because it can’t be changed once it’s entered. For our installation, we’ll use GWDomain. Click the Next button to proceed.

Now, you’ll have to create a directory for the mail and GroupWise agents in which to install this domain. For easy troubleshooting, I suggest something like GWDomain. Enter the directory name that you want to use (for example, F:\GWDOMAIN) and click Next. When you see the directory creation message, click Yes to continue.

At this point, you must tell GroupWise in which context it will reside. Click the Discovery button to the right of the Domain Context field, select the NDS context you want to use, click OK, and click Next. Now, you need to select the language that you want GroupWise to use. For our example, select English-US and click Next. On the window that follows, verify that the time zone is correct for the location of the server to which you are installing GroupWise and click Next.

The next window asks you to provide a name for the GroupWise post office that you are creating. I suggest something like GWPOST. Enter the name that you want to use and click Next. You also need to specify a directory for storing the post office files. Use a naming convention similar to the domain that we just set up and type F:\GWPOST. Then, enter the drive letter and directory you want to use and click Next.

The next window will ask for the context of the post office that is being created. Depending on how many users you have, you may decide to have a post office for each context or NDS container in your tree. For this particular installation, select the context in which your users reside and click Next. The next two windows ask you to select the language and time zone. After you make the appropriate selections for the post office, click Next on each window to proceed.

When the Post Office Mode window appears, you’ll have an important choice to make. GroupWise clients will be able to access their e-mail in one of two ways: client/server (via TCP/IP) or direct access (via a drive mapping). To give yourself more flexibility, select the option that allows both client/server and direct access. It will let you set up better access for a particular client. Click Next to continue.

The Post Office Link window asks you to make a configuration choice as to how the MTA (Message Transfer Agent) will handle the message traffic with the POA (Post Office Agent) for your post office. Select the Direct option if the MTA and POA GroupWise components will reside on the same server. Select TCP/IP if those components will reside on different servers. If you expect your GroupWise use to increase, you may want to select the TCP/IP option for the post office link. That way, you’ll have to change only the IP address in the GroupWise configuration files when you move from running the MTA and POA components on the same server to different servers. Make the selection that you feel is better for your network and click Next.

At this point, you’ll be asked to supply either the IP address or DNS name of the POA component. If you’re using publicly listed IP addresses on your network for the systems that are running the GroupWise components, you can use the DNS option. If you use the IP address and your DNS servers go down or fail to respond quickly enough, host name address to IP resolution won’t be necessary—which should allow part of the GroupWise system to run faster.

The end is nearThe end is in sight; you’ve nearly finished setting up your GroupWise system. The next window that appears will be the Post Office Users window. Here, you’ll need to click Add and select at least two users that you’ll use initially to make sure that everything is up and running before you set up the rest of your users on GroupWise. For our example, click Add and select Admin and one or two other users. Click OK and then click Next. Review the information that’s presented on the Summary Information window and click the Create button. A status window showing the creation progress will appear.

Click Next to install and run the agent software. When the Agent Information window appears, review the information that’s provided and click Next. You’ll need to select the agent platform that you’ll use for your GroupWise system. Since we’re running on a NetWare server, select the NetWare NLM option and click Next.

Click the Install Agents button to install the GroupWise agents. Verify the path and language of the agents that you’re installing and click Next. You’ll see a progress window while the agents are being installed. When the process is complete, click the Finish button to accept the default options, which update the AUTOEXEC.NCF file to auto-start agents and launch the GroupWise agents.

When the NW NLM Agent Setup window reappears, click Next. Don’t select the Rconsole option for loading agents because it’s already been done. When the next window appears, use only the Setup Client button to install software on this machine. (It also can be done later with the normal install process.) Click Next to continue. Click the Done button to complete the system creation process, and you’ll be returned to NWAdmin.

ConclusionBefore turning GroupWise over to your users, you’ll need to start it and send a few messages from each client that you’ve configured to your other clients. This way, you can make sure that everything is functioning properly. In part 2 of this series, we’ll discuss managing GroupWise with NWAdmin.

Ronald Nutter is a senior systems engineer in Lexington, KY. He's an MCSE, Novell Master CNE, and Compaq ASE. Ron has worked with networks ranging in size from single servers to multiserver/multi-OS setups, including NetWare, Windows NT, AS/400, 3090, and UNIX. He's also the help desk editor for Network World. If you’d like to contact Ron, send him an e-mail. (Because of the large volume of e-mail that he receives, it's impossible for him to respond to every message. However, he does read them all.)

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